Who is the true king or queen of Mandopop? Which are the songs that remain in the minds of fans years after they have been released?
For a radio station’s listeners, Jacky Cheung edges out Jay Chou, A-mei’s power pipes trump Faye Wong’s delicate croon, Stefanie Sun shines among local artists and the smoky vocals of Tiger Huang reign supreme.
An awards show might crown whoever is topping the charts, but it takes a massive exercise like radio station UFM100.3’s U1000 campaign to find the top 1,000 songs to paint a bigger picture.
Starting in February, the station’s listeners, aged 35 to 49, were asked to nominate their top songs in the past 30 years. More than 3,000 songs were suggested and this was winnowed to a final 1,500 based on factors such as chart performances and voting by the station’s DJs.
The public could vote only online for any number of songs and only one vote a song. From March 31 to April 14, the top 1,000 songs they voted were played on the airwaves.
Taiwanese singer Huang’s Not So Simple topped the list of Mandopop songs. This was the title track of her 2009 album, marking a triumphant comeback for the 50-year-old Pub Queen.
Composed by blind singer-songwriter Ricky Hsiao and with lyrics by Daryl Yao, the ballad managed to get under the skin of women of a certain age.
There is a certain weariness to it but Huang remains unbowed in the face of life’s vicissitudes. She comes to terms with who she is as she sings in her weathered, husky voice: “Past the age for dreaming, I would rather have peace and quiet than blazing glory.”
For a song that might have greater appeal for an older crowd, it seems to have tapped into a more universal vein of yearning and learning to let go.
Still, it was something of a surprise to see it top the charts. It is the newest song in the top 10, given that the other tracks are from the mid-noughties and earlier and its pole position cements it as an instant classic.
Facebook user Lynn Teo posted on the radio station’s page: “Thoroughly satisfying. It’s really Not So Simple to guess who would be No. 1. Quite like this song.”
Last year, UFM100.3 held a similar poll for the first time, but limited it to 500 tracks. Not So Simple was No. 41 then, while Faye Wong’s achingly tender Red Bean (1998) emerged tops.
Programme director of UFM100.3 Carine Ang says the station held the poll to find out which songs their listeners really liked and that they think are representative of the music scene. They decided to expand the poll this year after getting feedback that there were too few songs to choose from previously.
And what do the U1000 poll results show?
Chou might be the reigning king but Hong Kong’s Jacky Cheung is known as God of songs not for nothing. Cheung has the most number of songs in U1000 with 27, beating Chou’s count of 26.
More tellingly, Chou has just one song in the top 50 with Blue And White Porcelain (2007) coming in at No. 42. In contrast, Cheung has seven. His highest charting number is the mega-hit Farewell Kiss (1993) in runner-up position.
And Cheung’s successor as God of songs, Eason Chan, managed to chalk up 18 entries.
It really seems that the oldies are goldies based on the poll. Before jumping to the easy lament that the golden age of songs and songwriting is over, the results could have skewed this way for various reasons. The earlier artists emerged at a time with fewer entertainment options and distractions and there was time and space for songs to firmly take root.
The Internet has increased the reach of artists, but it has also fragmented the music market, with every niche taste and genre being catered to.
It could also be the nostalgia factor playing a part – nostalgia not just for the songs themselves, but for the various personal histories they evoke.
Hong Kong’s Four Heavenly Kings no longer have a stranglehold on the entertainment scene but their far- reaching influence remains. Andy Lau charted 18 times, Aaron Kwok seven and Leon Lai had four entries, including Will You Come Tonight (1991) at No. 10.
Among the female singers, Taiwanese diva A-mei powered her way to the top with 26 songs, with No. 8’s Listen To The Sea (1997) being her best performer. She eclipses Faye Wong, Fish Leong and Stefanie Sun, who all have 21 entries each (including duets). And rockers Mayday were the top band with 15 songs.
Younger upstarts were left far behind, including Taiwan’s Yoga Lin, who had just three tracks on the list.
The comparison is not completely fair, given how many more albums the veterans have released. But it suggests that winning a high-profile singing contest and putting out raved-about albums are different things from singing songs that people want to return to over time.
Of course, even a massive exercise such as this cannot be completely representative. The results will vary if it is held over a different period of time with a different survey pool and different voting methods. But even an imperfect poll can yield interesting results.
Local singers had a good showing.
Sun had 21 entries, Kit Chan and JJ Lin had 12 and Tanya Chua had eight. Mavis Hee had six entries, including the highest-charting local song with her hit Moonlight In The City (1996) at No. 4.
In part buoyed by the currently running xinyao musical If There’re Seasons, the Singapore folk movement also made quite an impact on the chart. The title track (from 2002) by Kit Chan was No. 12 while xinyao stalwart Liang Wern Fook’s Friendship Forever (1987) was No. 16. He had a total of six tracks on the poll, including The Sparrow With A Bamboo Twig (1990), previously banned from the airwaves for its dialect content, at No. 253.
And even though the initial call was for songs from the last 30 years, the late songbird Teresa Teng trilled her way to five spots, including The Moon Represents My Heart from the early 1970s at No. 56.
Going by this poll, there is no simple formula to determine what goes into an enduring song. Love ballads dominate, but that is not surprising given that they are the mainstay of mainstream Mandopop. Exactly what kind of love ballad would resonate though is the question that composers, lyricists and singers are all chasing after.
What the poll does show though is that you cannot put a good song down.

The top 20 tracks
1 Not So Simple: Tiger Huang
2 Farewell Kiss: Jacky Cheung
3 Love Tidal Wave: Jeff Chang
4 Moonlight In The City: Mavis Hee
5 Fairytale: Michael Wong
6 Red Bean: Faye Wong
7 Ten Years: Eason Chan
8 Listen To The Sea: A-mei
9 A Game, A Dream: Dave Wang
10 Will You Come Tonight: Leon Lai
11 How Can You Bear To Make Me Sad: Huang Pin-yuan
12 If There’re Seasons: Kit Chan (right)
13 Conquer: Na Ying
14 Dream To Awakening: Sarah Chen
15 Can’t Help Falling In Love With You: Harlem Yu
16 Friendship Forever: Liang Wern Fook
17 Love Letter: Jacky Cheung
18 Little Love Song: sodagreen
19 Home: Kit Chan
20 At Least There Is You: Sandy Lam

The full results are available at www.ufm1003.sg
(ST)